Steven Gerrard lavished praise on "world class" Allan McGregor after the Rangers keeper shut out Villarreal with a series of wonderstops.

The Ibrox side were up against it in the crucial Europa League Group G clash after having Daniel Candeias controversially sent off shortly before the break.

By then McGregor had already pulled off two stunning one-on-one stops to deny Cameroonian frontman Karl Toko Embaki.

And he held firm in the face of heavy second half pressure as Rangers grabbed a point which means a victory in their final game away to Rapid Vienna in two weeks' time will ensure qualification for the last 32.

Read More

Gerrard went on: "It's a great game for us. We will go to Vienna and give it our best. I believe if we defend like we did tonight then I have confidence then we can go there and win."

Asked about the red card Gerrard said: "I didn't get the best view of it. He feels hard done by. It might be mistaken identity. We've already had one of those scenarios this season so we won't talk about that.

"We rolled our sleeves up and didn't feel sorry for ourselves.

"We dug in and got ourselves a very important point. If we feel like we have a case we will put it forward."

Gerrard added: "We are an inexperienced team. We have young players who are all hungry and want to do exceptionally well for me and the supporters.